Joel on Software -
“Seven steps to remarkable customer service”

This has two implications.

One: it’s crucial that tech support have access to the
development team. This means that you can’t outsource tech support:
they have to be right there at the same street address as the
developers, with a way to get things fixed. Many software companies
still think that it’s “economical” to run tech support in Bangalore
or the Philippines, or to outsource it to another company
altogether. Yes, the cost of a single incident might be $10 instead
of $50, but you’re going to have to pay $10 again and again.

When we handle a tech support incident with a well-qualified
person here in New York, chances are that’s the last time we’re
ever going to see that particular incident. So with one $50
incident we’ve eliminated an entire class of problems.

Somehow, the phone companies and the cable companies and the
ISPs just don’t understand this equation. They outsource their tech
support to the cheapest possible provider and end up paying $10
again and again and again fixing the same problem again and again
and again instead of fixing it once and for all in the source code.
The cheap call centers have no mechanism for getting problems
fixed; indeed, they have no incentive to get problems fixed because
their income depends on repeat business, and there’s nothing they
like better than being able to give the same answer to the same
question again and again.